The Ukrainian government and NAK Naftogaz of Ukraine directly decided to initiate a lawsuit against the Russian company Gazprom, said Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a briefing in Kiev on Monday, April 28.
“A pre-arbitration claim has been sent to the Russian monopolist,” Interfax-Ukraine quoted him as saying.
Yatsenyuk explained that according to the contracts Gazprom should give a clear answer to this claim within 30 days, including on the issue of gas prices. The Ukrainian Prime Minister emphasized that in the absence of a pre-trial settlement, applying to the Stockholm arbitration would be the most civilized way to resolve the conflict.
Earlier, on Thursday, April 24, Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev said that Gazprom had billed Naftogaz for non-extraction of gas in 2013 in the amount of $ 11.388 billion.
According to him, “the total debt of Naftogaz of Ukraine to Gazprom for non-extraction of gas under the contract on a“ take or pay ”basis is about $ 18.5 billion.
